When I blogged on November 7, I had no idea I would not blog again until November 22. My sister is recovering nicely from her surgery. The jury is still out on the condition of her sole caregiver. (LOL!) The main reason I haven’t blogged in 15 days is that my desktop computer went rogue on November 11. I did not have time to call for help for it until late yesterday. My new best friend/computer guy came today and I am now back in business as a blogger and a writer.

The timing couldn’t have been worse for computer problems with my new book, Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories, just being released. All the publicity memes and ads I created in advance on Bookbrush.com (I love Bookbrush!) could not be accessed and posted on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, or Bluesky. I can still use them, of course, but the dates I labeled many of them with have now passed. I’m living in a time warp of sorts.

I have not been able to mail 85 book publicity postcards in the metro area because the local independent bookstore has not received her shipment from IngramSpark yet. Another case of hurry up and wait.

I’m not one to always look for the silver lining in a black cloud, but (1) my sister is improving each day and (2) I’ve gotten some much-needed exercise putting ice packs on her wound every 20 minutes all day every day. I’ve averaged walking more than three miles-a-day, which is probably 2.5 miles more than my usual.

All of this came at an inopportune time. Some of you have, no doubt, missed my daily political rants. Others of you have probably thanked God for the absence of them.

“Let them eat cake!”

During my absence from the blogosphere this month, President Marie Antoinette ordered the U.S. Border Patrol to leave Chicago and descend upon us here Charlotte. I watched local and national news programs as the masked and heavily armed Border Patrol Agents roamed Mecklenburg County and beyond (including very small mountain towns more than 100 miles to the west) and randomly round up anyone who looked or sounded Hispanic — regardless of their citizenship status.

They came without coordinating or communicating with the Sheriff of Mecklenburg County or the Charlotte Chief of Police. Standard protocol is that a federal law enforcement agency alerts local law enforcement of their operations so local police do not interfere with the operations. It just helps for local police to be aware of what the feds are doing, but that’s not how U.S. Border Patrol works.

They pointed high-powered weapons at unarmed men, women, and children, broke out car windows, and detained people for days without their families knowing where they had been taken. I understand some were taken hundreds of miles away to Georgia.

The general terrorism in sections of Charlotte with high Hispanic populations resulted in Hispanic- and Latino- owned businesses closing shop all week in an effort to keep their customers safe. Grocery stores and other businesses offered home deliveries to customers who were afraid to leave their homes.

Some 30,000 Charlotte-Mecklenburg school students stayed home from school out of fear of either being picked up in transit or out of fear that if they went to school their parents would be arrested and taken away before they got home from school that afternoon.

A teacher at East Mecklenburg High School was interviewed. She eloquently described what last week was like in the school system with 21 percent of the students being afraid to go to school. She did not use the word “terrorized” lightly. She spoke of teachers making home visits to their scared students to reassure them and to deliver food and toiletries to their homes.

What we have now in America is students not only having to worry that a shooter is going to come into their school and murder students and teachers, they also have to worry that the United States Government is going to send men in unmarked vehicles and wearing full military garb plus masks and sunglasses that completely hide their identities to harass them and possibly zip tie them and haul them away to parts unknown as they just attempt to attend school.

It did not help the situation for Assistant White House Chief-of-Staff Stephen Miller to announce that those 30,000 school students stayed home this week because they were all illegal aliens. Stop lying, Mr. Miller! Most of those students are American citizens. They just don’t have a white face like you have, Mr. Miller. That’s all they are guilty of. Since you don’t appear to be Native American of indigenous ancestry, Mr. Miller, I assume that you have immigrants in your family tree. Most Americans do.

When all was said and done in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, in less than a week, more than 370 individuals were arrested out of a population of 1.2 million. President Antoinette enjoyed his Great Gatsby-themed party in Florida as he sent Border Patrol Agents here under the guise of arresting “the worst of the worst.” The final report isn’t out yet, but the last I heard only two gang members were arrested. Of the first 170 people arrested, only 44 had police records (including such things are parking tickets and speeding tickets.)

At least one U.S. citizen’s truck window was broken out by Border Patrol. He was taken miles away. Border Patrol kept his truck keys. At least two women from Puerto Rico were accosted, questioned, zip-tied, and led away to an unmarked vehicle. The Trump Administration hasn’t learned yet that Puerto Rico is a U.S. Territory. Its residents are U.S. citizens. I can’t un-see the video of Trump throwing paper towels at Puerto Ricans after Hurricane Maria in October 2017. It was when Hurricane Maria hit that Trump told us that Puerto Rico is an island surrounded by water. Duh!

Before I close, I want to emphasize how the U.S. Border Patrol Agents are dressed. The word “mask” is woefully inadequate to describe what they are wearing. These so-called masks are heavy knit fabric. It reaches from their throats to their eyes and encircles their heads. Dark sunglasses cover their eyes. They wear hats. (I can’t help but compare them to the Ku Klux Klan… cowardly white people afraid to show their faces.)

They are dressed in fatigues with bullet-proof vests. Wads of zip ties hanging from their belts or one of their numerous pockets. They are heavily armed. They appear to be very short on patience and totally void of empathy for their fellow American citizens. They have been filmed stopping in the street in a residential neighborhood, jumping out and accosting two Hispanic-looking men who were hired to put lights on a resident’s outdoor Christmas tree.

It has come to this: random racial terrorism being practiced by the United States Government at the direction of the United States President.

They seem to have left Charlotte, although the website of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security indicated they would be here until December 4. Is that a trick?

New Orleans, apparently you are next on Trump’s hit list. Remain calm and vigilant. Remain calm and vigilant. Be on the lookout for unmarked SUVs bearing Illinois license plates.

Update from Chicago

Marimar Martinez, the teacher in Chicago who was shot five times by U.S. Border Patrol, is recovering from her injuries and is returning to the classroom. She had been called a “domestic terrorist” by Border Patrol after she blew her vehicle’s horn to warn residents that the agents were in the neighborhood, but all charges against her were suddenly dropped this week.

Border Patrol accused her of ramming their vehicle, but video of the incident proved it was their vehicle that sideswiped her care. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security continues to publish falsehoods about her though, even as the department has dropped all charges after their case fell apart in a hearing.

Trump calls for execution of lawmakers

In other news here in America, when six Democrat lawmakers dared to make a video to remind all U.S. citizens that members of the U.S. military are not required to obey an illegal order, Trump called for the six to be arrested and executed.

Republicans told us that Trump did not mean it, and that’s supposed to make it okay.

As a writer, I know that words are more powerful than the sword. It is frightening and embarrassing that we have a U.S. President who is reckless with his language. It is also frightening that no one in a position of authority is holding him accountable for anything he says or does.

Resignation of U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene

Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia surprised everyone last night when she announced her resignation from the U.S. Congress as of January 5, 2026. Trump calling her a “traitor” was a bridge too far for this staunch ex-supporter of him and his administration. Perhaps other politicians who have sold their souls to the devil should take note. When he turns on you, you are dead to him.

This gives me a glimmer of hope that there are cracks in Trump’s armor.

Mozambique

It is being reported that ISIS has quickly gone into Mozambique since USAID has halted. ISIS is not filling the gap in aid. They’re filling the gap of influence. They’re recruiting the young men. They are beheading people who don’t comply with their demands.

People with decades of experience in the U.S. State Department warned us that in addition to millions of people starving to death, the halting of USAID would result in radical terrorist groups rushing in to take our place. It appears those decades of government service meant they knew a lot more about international relations than Trump and his minions will ever know.

All Trump could see was we were spending money to help Third World countries and he detested that policy. He couldn’t be bothered to understand that much of that food aid was a product of American agriculture. Even in his second term in office, Trump doesn’t know what he doesn’t know.

All those people who thought it was not in our national interest to ship American grain and other agricultural products to other countries, how do you like the prospect of ISIS spreading its hate for America among “the least of these.”

Most Trump supporters pride themselves in being Christians. This continues to baffle me. What version of the Bible tells you to hate the foreigner? I’ve never read that version.

In closing

That’s my rant for today. Maybe it’s a good thing I haven’t been able to watch or listen to as much news this month as my usual! I hope to blog about my new book in a couple of days.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog.

When you have a minute, please look for my books on Amazon.

Remember the brave people of Ukraine, as it appears Trump has been played like a fiddle by Putin.

I am fortunate that the U.S. Constitution protects my right to criticize the U.S. President.

Janet